LCEP Field Study

Our LCEP Field Study today was cold, wet, windy, and incredibly fun!  I'm so proud of the kids in this class.  We went out on canoes on what was probably the coldest and wettest day of spring, but they toughed it out.  We saw many animals on the river, including California Sea Lions.  Afterward, we pulled invasive plants in a forest near the Willamette River.  The kids were like Invasive Plant Removal Machines!  Enjoy the photos below:

 You can barely see the back of one of the sea lions in this picture...

Weekly Newsletter

Jeremy’s Weekly Newsletter

May 19, 2013

Math

We finally wrapped up all of the OAKS testing last week.  We are now focusing on the skills that I want to review and hone before the kids move on to 4th grade.  The three things I’ll be focusing on in these last weeks are adding two/three digit numbers, subtracting two/three digit numbers, and memorizing multiplication facts 0-10.  Subtracting multi-digit numbers continues to be problematic for a lot of the students, and this will be the focus of much of our work.

Writer’s Workshop

Last week, we took our research and began organizing our facts into paragraphs.  The students also worked on writing topic sentences for each paragraph and writing introductions.  The students will be sharing their book about Portland and reflecting on themselves as writers at our final Author’s Tea on Thursday, June 13th at 9 AM.

Reader’s Workshop

Last week we continued reading our read aloud book, Gregor the Overlander.  We talked about “cliffhangers,” and how good writers can create a story that makes you want to continue reading.  We also continued with our Lit Circles.

Portland Study

The past two weeks have included creating graphs of our bicycle survey data, debating adding fluoride to Portland’s water, and discussing the importance of cultural diversity to our city.  On Friday, the students received their final message about this study asking them to create games for the Portland Olympics.  These games will happen next Thursday, May 23rd.

Lower Columbia Estuary Project

Earlier this school year we got a grant from the Lower Columbia Estuary Project (LCEP).  As part of this grant, we have a guest teacher who comes in for three visits to teach about river ecology.  Then we go on a field trip that includes a service project (we’ll be removing invasive species) and a canoe trip on the Willamette River.  Sam, our LCEP teacher, came in and taught about food webs last Monday.  She will teach about invasive species this Monday and about stream tables/watersheds on May 20th.  We will be going to Meldrum Bar for our field trip on May 22nd.

Rocks and Minerals

This week starts our short unit on rocks and minerals.  The kids will be learning about how rocks and minerals are formed, the rock cycle, and how to identify various rocks and minerals.  I know that many of the kids have rock collections at home that they would like to share.  I have broken the class into thirds and each week I invite one-third of the class to bring in rock collections to share if they so desire.  This week, the following students are invited to share their rocks:

Josie, Maya, Sam, Abby, Svas, Avery, Nehalem, and Naimah

Ask Your Third Grader...

What’s the difference between a shallow question and a deep question?

What is a food web?

What are some things to do if you get lost?

Important Things Coming Up...

May 22 - Meldrum Bar Field Study

May 27 - Memorial Day (no school)

May 31 - Run/Walk for SES

That’s it!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Jeremy

Photos from our Week

The kids learned about invasive plants from Sam of the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership (LCEP).

The students held a "city council" meeting this week to discuss the potential fluoridation of Portland's water.  The city council decided against adding fluoride to the water, so several fluoride supporters in the classroom decided to begin a petition to bring it to a class vote.  Sound familiar?

May 3rd Field Study at Laurelhurst Park

What do you do if you are lost?  That was the theme of Friday's field study at Laurelhurst Park.  Ginny taught the kids about awareness of their environment and other skills necessary in the event that one is lost.  It was a gorgeous day for a field study!

Weekly Newsletter

Jeremy’s Weekly Newsletter

April 28, 2013

Math

This week was mostly about reviewing math concepts we had learned earlier in the year.  We capped the review with a rousing game of “Math Jeopardy.”  We will be taking the OAKS Math test next week on Monday (9-10) and Wednesday (10-11).  As with the reading test, I try not to make a big deal out of these (if it were up to me, we wouldn’t do them at all), but it’s important to make sure your child gets plenty of rest and a good breakfast before the tests.  Thanks!

Writer’s Workshop

Last week, each child began working on the layout for our zine about Portland.  These are going to be incredibly beautiful and creative pages.  When the students finish writing their pieces (late May), I will need adult volunteers to type them up and print them.  Please let me know if you could volunteer your time to do this.

Reader’s Workshop

Last week we continued reading our read aloud book, Gregor the Overlander.  We focused on asking “deep” questions about our books as opposed to “shallow” questions.  Deep questions lead to a long, interesting discussion and have no definite answer.  Shallow questions are easily answered and don’t require any discussion.  The kids are practicing this skill in order to enhance their lit circle discussions.

Portland Study

Last week, the students went out and surveyed about 75 people on Hawthorne Blvd about bicycling.  This week we’ll take their data and create spreadsheets and graphs of the data using Microsoft Excel.

Lower Columbia Estuary Project

Earlier this school year we got a grant from the Lower Columbia Estuary Project (LCEP).  As part of this grant, we have a guest teacher who comes in for three visits to teach about river ecology.  Then we go on a field trip that includes a service project (we’ll be removing invasive species) and a canoe trip on the Willamette River.  Sam, our LCEP teacher, came in and taught about food webs last Monday.  She will teach about invasive species this Monday and about stream tables/watersheds on May 20th.  We will be going to Meldrum Bar for our field trip on May 22nd.

Invention Convention

BIOMIMICRY INVENTION CONVENTION FAMILY NIGHT

WHEN:  MONDAY MAY13th

TIME:   6:30 to 8:30 pm

WHERE:  SUNNYSIDE SCHOOL GYM

WHAT:   Celebrate student inventions designed to help our world!

             Students used ideas from Nature to create inventions.

             All projects will be displayed in the gym

             Let's celebrate the genius of Nature and our Students' inspirations!

Ask Your Third Grader...

What’s the difference between a shallow question and a deep question?

What is a food web?

What are some things to do if you get lost?

Important Things Coming Up...

May 13 - Invention Convention 6:30-8:30 PM

May 15 - Late Opening

May 27 - Memorial Day (no school)

That’s it!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Jeremy

Bicycle Survey

On Tuesday, students from our class went down to Hawthorne Blvd to survey people about bicycling.  They were so professional!  We'll be using our data to create Excel graphs in the computer lab this week.

Timbers Vs. Green Machine News Coverage

By now I'm sure many of you have seen some news coverage of the game yesterday.  It was a pretty extraordinary event.  Here is a clip from KATU News.